


Policy Of Truth

by twriting



Series: World's Finest [5]
Category: Superman - All Media Types
Genre: AO3 needs more tags for obscure Silver & Bronze Age DCU characters, Also I keep misspelling Kristin's name, Alternate Universe - Age Changes, Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Bruce isn't actually here but he does get mentioned a lot, Female Clark Kent, Sorry Kristin!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-03
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2021-02-19 13:36:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22545166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twriting/pseuds/twriting
Summary: Two of the people in this piece are non-human. Two people are spies. One is a distant descendant of one of the other people at the table. What I'm saying is, the DCU has some really interesting lunch groups.
Relationships: Clark Kent & Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent/James "Jimmy" Olsen
Series: World's Finest [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1554871
Comments: 5
Kudos: 21





	Policy Of Truth

Spring break had just been a whole series of mistakes. Cantrell Kent figures that's traditional for someone her age, but she needs to be better than that. People need her to be better than that.

Bruce's texts this morning had been dry, with even less sign of his sense of humour than usual. He'd offered good advice about the media and promised to have his lawyers lean on a few people, but that had been it. After the past week he probably needs to keep a bit of distance from her.

"Come on," she tells Jimmy. He looks worried. "I need to get out of here."

Jimmy takes her hand and tells Cantrell again that he can help with the media, but there probably aren't any down there right now. She already knows, by having counted them from the privacy of her room, that there are three photographers outside Wylie Hall. But Cantrell appreciates his attempts to make her feel better. Jimmy showed up as soon as he could get out of a family thing, and now Lori is downstairs. Sally and Brad came up earlier to see her. Kristen has the room that shares a bathroom with Cantrell and hasn't left the dorm since she heard the news this morning. If Cantrell had been feeling lonely before, this goes a long way towards lifting it.

It's seven floors to the ground and despite the way her skin itches no other residents in Wylie Hall stare at Cantrell as the group takes the open stairwell down. She tells Jimmy about Bruce's texts this morning.

"Lawyers are a great idea. We, um, can't expect much help from my family. They aren't happy with my job."

What Jimmy's family is unhappy with is him dating a double orphan from a lower socioeconomic class. But there's no need to bring that up around everyone else. "Well, eventually they'll get used to the idea that you don't want to work in the family business."

Jimmy exhales slowly. "I guess. They're just being generally unpleasant about everything."

Brad tells him that's not his fault, and Sally and Kristen both jump in to agree. Jimmy kind of shrugs. Cantrell's not sure what he's shrugging off but if the two of them are going to be serious then they should have a serious talk about his family soon.

Wylie Hall is the oldest building on MetU's campus and after multiple renovations it barely meets the minimum for accessibility. They meet Lori outside, at the base of Wylie's awkwardly steep wheelchair ramp. "You okay?" Lori asks her. Cantrell assures her that she is in fact okay but kind of freaked out, and doesn't mention the woman with the expensive digital camera standing by the parking meter across the street.

Brad suggests the Reading Room because on a day like this beer can only help. Cantrell reminds him he has training later today and he shrugs and says he wasn't going to drink but Cantrell looks like she could use a few. The six of them agree on the Reading Room and make their way towards the gate.

The other students around don't so much as glance at her. Well, even if they have read the article Cantrell probably doesn't look like someone a billionaire would allow anywhere near him. She's not exactly disguised but the aggressively bland sweat pants and hoodie and knit cap look is probably overkill.

The man in business-casual clothes takes her picture as they pass the west gate. Good luck selling that, Cantrell thinks as she holds her boyfriend's hand.

Jimmy's thumb brushes over her knuckles. "You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah. I needed to get out of the dorm before I go crazy." Bruce isn't wrong. She gets antsy when she's stressed. Emotional energy starts pushing her physical energy to the surface.

The Reading Room is right across the street from the front gates of MetU's campus. Conveniently located for students, faculty, and staff who all share the common need for cheap booze and fried food, it is nearly full on the Sunday afternoon before classes are set to reopen.

Cantrell and the others find a seat towards the back of the Reading Room, between the bar and the fire exit. Seated next to Cantrell, Jimmy gives her a quick hug. "I'm buying today, alright. No arguments."

Jimmy looks out for her. He's fun to be with, he works hard, he loves to share the things he's enthusiastic about. The only problem is he's rich, and Cantrell's seen enough from him and Bruce to know she doesn't want to raise a kid with too much money. It's too late for his family to cut Jimmy completely out of the fortune, he already has investments left to him by a couple of older relatives. But maybe if that's all he's left with. Cantrell figures she can handle well-off, but not rich.

Cantrell orders a salad and sandwich, and changes her drink to a coffee instead of a beer when she discovers she left her ID back in her room. She's a little disappointed to see how much food her other friends order when Jimmy offers to pay, but he doesn't complain so Cantrell keeps her mouth shut. Another reason not to be wealthy.

Wealthy brings her right back to what she doesn't want to but kind of has to think about. Bruce.

"So," Sally brings the matter up right on cue. "How does a broke student end up outside a hotel with a billionaire?"

"We were outside a gas station because Bruce needed to pee," Cantrell replies. "The hotel was on the other side of the parking lot." She squares her shoulders. "Look. After that whole mess at the gallery Bruce gave me his number. We've been texting."

"And yeah," Jimmy adds. "Before you even ask, I know. Cantrell told me." Which is true, because she wanted Jimmy to know that she knows Bruce and the gallery incident had made telling him a lot easier.

"Yeah. So Bruce asked me how I was doing, because the anniversary of my parents deaths is coming up and he was worried."

Brad shrugs, causing Sally to rip his shirt off with her eyes. "Figures. I mean, with his own parents and everything."

"Exactly. And I told him I was stressed, and he offered to sit down and talk to me about it. So we got out of the city and just talked. Which was actually really nice of him, because it turns out he hates nature. You should have seen how much gear he thought he needed for a day hike."

"Not everyone grew up thinking three miles was a short walk to school," Jimmy reminds her.

"It's not like I walked it every day. Most of the time mom or dad would drive me. But he left his rain gear behind on that last day, and we got caught in a shower." And well maybe just maybe Bruce has a point about being prepared. "So of course we were freezing and needed to pee. And when we stopped at that gas station there were some kids outside who decided they needed a picture of me in a wet t-shirt - "

"Uh-huh," Brad says. "Brad!" Sally yells.

"Brad's only a bit of a pig now. He used to be a complete pig back in high school," Cantrell says.

"I am so sorry," Brad says. "Please don't tell that story."

Sally, Lori, and Kristen all look at Brad. Jimmy looks at Cantrell. "This sounds good," he says.

Cantrell decides to cut Brad a bit of slack. He has actually grown up a lot since then. And he always kept his hands to himself, unlike a certain high school football hero with a thing for Lana. "Oh, it is a good story. But maybe later."

Brad sags with relief. "Thank you."

This morning Bruce had messaged her that the best story for the media is 80% pure truth, 15% close enough to truth or simple misdirection and omission, and 5% pure bullshit. Cantrell had asked what the BS would be, and then she'd vetoed the idea of telling the press she'd been showing him lasso work. They're still working out the full details of what to tell the press, but there's no way it will involve rope stuff.

A woman with too many electronic thermal signatures hidden in her pockets sits down at a small table across the room from Cantrell and her friends. Cantrell smiles at Jimmy and slides her chair closer to him. Jimmy says he recognizes the woman from public events but how does Cantrell know she's media, and Cantrell smiles and says she just wanted to sit closer. If she tells Jimmy the full truth about herself she could stop lying to him about things like this.

At least she can look Jimmy in the eye and honestly say Bruce and her are friends. These past few days she'd let herself come far too close to causing a lot of pain.

"Well, she's press. Metropolis Today."

Sticking out her tongue a bit and grimacing, Sally glances over at the woman. "Yuck. They're not even a fun gossip site."

Cantrell kisses Jimmy on the cheek. "There. They can run that picture. Maybe they'll say Bruce is heartbroken."

He won't be, obviously. Maybe he did find her attractive, but he also finds her threatening. He'd calmed down after seeing the kryptonite. They're friends now, but that reaction puts a real edge on the friendship.

"Poor guy," Jimmy says. "They're kind of pests for my family, but when he moved back to Gotham after university the media completely hounded him. We, uh, kinda had a betting pool of when they'd pull a Princess Diana on him."

Their food arrives and Cantrell reminds herself to slow down and say a brief gratitude. To what she's not sure anymore. Maybe just to the plants and animals involved, and for all the work that went into putting that food before her.

Around a mouthful of club sandwich Cantrell asks Jimmy how much hounding he thinks she can expect. Jimmy swallows some fries and tells her that frankly, from a media perspective she's not all that interesting. It's everyone around her that interests them.

"Like Lex."

Jimmy nods. "Yeah. That story's not going away. Not unless he shows up and tells everyone where the nuke is."

"I wish he would," mutters Brad. "Some guy from the Department of Homeland Security called Coach Sinclair a few days ago and asked if I'd been talking about Lex at all. Like Lex is going to call me out of the fucking blue and tell me what he's up to."

Cantrell points out that they're probably working their way down the list again. "Bashford, Garcia, Kent, Lang, Ross, Sullivan. Can you imagine how bored they must be at this point?"

The conversation shifts briefly to whether or not DHS has contacted Ava again. Brad says she hasn't said anything about it on social media, but Cantrell points out that Brad never bothers to mention it either. Lori says its weird how casual they are about this, and Sally and Kristen agree. "Welcome to Smallville normal," Brad replies. The conversation shifts again, this time to some of the weirder crime stories to come out of Smallville.

Cantrell drops out of the conversation to focus on her salad. When people start talking about things like this she prefers to fade into the background. Alien survival skills.

Kristen turns to Cantrell. "Where were you when they found the bodies under that old swimming pool?"

Before Cantrell can answer Brad jumps in. "Making out with Lana."

"Brad." The classroom had been empty for a few minutes and she and Lana had taken the chance to share a couple of kisses. Maybe a bit of necking. Nothing heavy, but it had still been embarrassing when Pete had walked in on the two of them. And then they'd forgotten about the embarrassment when the principal announced over the intercom that all students not currently in class were to return to their homerooms.

"Hey, it's true. You came downstairs to stare with the rest of us, but I guess you forgot you were wearing most of Lana's lipstick. Again."

"I swear one of these days I will end you."

"Nah. If anyone kills me it'll be Lana. She's still mad about, you know."

"Lana's not going to kill anyone. Stop exaggerating." Despite being fascinated with Cantrell's abilities Lana had also managed to see Cantrell as someone to protect, as vulnerable. It had given her a bit of a rep in high school.

Cantrell misses her time with Lana more than she can describe. Flying with her had been an absolute joy.

Flight itself is an absolute joy. Ask normal people what ability they'd like and most of them say flight. But give them the chance to try it and they clutch at her like drowning victims clinging to a floating log. Not Lana, but people keep telling her that Lana isn't normal. That doesn't speak well for Cantrell outing herself to more people.

"Lana was incredibly sweet," Cantrell tells Jimmy. "But she was also really protective. And kinda jealous sometimes. And since some people just would not stop hitting on me in grade nine - "

"S'rry," Brad mumbles around his burger.

"Lana ended up with a reputation. It got really exaggerated."

Lana had seen her as someone to be protected. Who else had ever looked at Cantrell that way? Mom and dad, basically. Everyone else who learns about her abilities sees her as invulnerable. Or a threat. Although she supposes she can't blame Bruce for that. Since he was a kid he's dedicated himself to surviving any situation that could realistically be expected and Cantrell is just not realistic.

God he hadn't reacted well to the Fortress. Maybe she should have eased him into it. Shown up in her House uniform first, brought a sample of Kryptonian technology. Or maybe someone like Bruce would never be able to easily accept her existence.

Bruce is a highly trained specialist. A survivor and a warrior. Extensive martial arts and parkour training, medical training, forensics, criminology, a half-dozen other specialties he needs to thrive as Batman. Dropping him down a hole full of Kryptonian technology had left him helpless. And there's that subtle edge of fear in his scent and bioelectric activity whenever she displays her abilities.

It's good to know, she figures. It's too small of a sample size to really draw conclusions from, but it's something to keep in mind. Overexcited teenagers seem to handle aliens better than professional warriors do.

* * *

  
A very academic argument between Kristen and Lori draws Cantrell's attention back to the table. The polisci majors are debating the word democracy, the precise translations of _demos_ , and how its roots are and aren't reflected in modern political structures. They both discuss the structure of the US government like it's a foreign nation they've researched for a paper, something to be dissected and analyzed with cold detachment. Cantrell watches Brad and Jimmy as they watch the debate, and Brad complements Jimmy on that picture he took of the SWAT team storming the Chamberlain Gallery. "You should have seen him slide into the room," Cantrell tells Brad. "That was so cool."

And it really was. Jimmy is brave almost in spite of himself. The risks he's willing to take are truly scary when she thinks about how vulnerable other people are, how easily their flesh is torn. Cantrell finishes her sandwich and tries not to think about Jimmy's heart giving out the way her father's had, or a bullet punching a hole through his neck like Bruce's mom.

What a thing to have to pick yourself up from. Natural death had been hard enough. She's not sure what kind of blast radius she'd have left behind if anyone had murdered her parents. Bruce's sheer resilience is one of the things about him that had interested her.

He'd been interested enough to track her down, interested in her abilities. Between his persistence and the edge of attraction that had crept into his interactions with her, Cantrell had figured he'd been _interested_. In the end he hadn't really been. But she had been, seriously enough to consider sleeping with him.

Consider? Be honest. She'd decided a week ago to sleep with him if he returned her attention. Bruce's scent reminds her of clean stone after a heavy rain and he's built like an elite athlete with the hands of a skilled tradesman. Plus he's good with kids. He hits every note of her scent-based Kryptonian sexuality and terrestrial Western socialization.

And she'd known every step of the way that it was a bad decision, the wrong thing to do. What would have been the point, past having a bit of selfish fun? Clearly she'd gone a little off the rails there.

"I'm still hungry," Jimmy announces. "Anyone else want nachos?" The table reaches a general consensus that nachos are good in principle, but a sub-committee of Kristen and Sally becomes locked in a debate between medium and hot. Cantrell's support for the extra-hot proposal is overruled by treasurer Jimmy, who reminds her that not everyone thinks glow-in-the-dark is an appropriate level of heat. Cantrell announces that she needs to stop hanging out with WASPs and Lori Lemaris objects on the grounds that she is Greek and anyway it is not normal for anyone of any ethnicity to snack on Carolina Reaper peppers.

Kristin wants to know when Cantrell starts field studies again, and Cantrell says she'll be assisting with a community survey in Hob's Bay starting Wednesday. When Kristin asks if it's safe to work in Suicide Slum Cantrell reminds her that not every part of Hob's Bay is part of the failed Southside Development Project and that yes Suicide is dangerous but that means the people there need support to make their lives less dangerous. It was the police who first started calling that area Suicide and can you imagine living somewhere even cops are scared of?

Suicide Slum is the kind of area Bruce trained to deal with. In a different way, it's exactly the sort of problem Cantrell is being trained to deal with, because force can't build communities. Bruce's wealth is probably more useful for these sort of social problems than any raw power she can apply. What does she think she can do? Punch poverty really hard?

Bruce is literally spending a fortune to stitch the pieces of Gotham back together, as patiently as a kintsugi artisan trying to join shattered glass back to a state of unity. Of course she admires him, she just wishes she knew how to stop freaking him out. They could be a good team. And he's kind of fun to spend time with. Although there is the problem of both of them having different ideas of what fun means.

He has his Batman persona of course, the silent doom in the shadows. But there's more going on than just the need for stealth and intimidation. She'd teased him about it by text once, how good he was at it and how much experience he must have at it as Batman. He'd replied that he used to play sneaking up on Alfred and his parents, and she'd realized that somewhere in his brain there is a little cluster of neurons that identifies 'startling people by playing ninja' as 'fun'.

No wonder he'd kept trying to sneak up on her. Of course he'd kept coming back. Fundamentally, Cantrell had been playing by a different set of rules. Like a rugby player learning football, Bruce needed to figure out this new game. He'd never actually been interested in Cantrell, just her abilities. Beyond that, he's confused by her. He'd said so himself.

With a start Cantrell realizes Lori is trying to get her attention. "Sorry. I'm distracted. Still trying to figure out what to do about all this. Mostly how to handle the media. I really just want to keep my privacy, you know?"

Whatever attraction Bruce had actually felt for her had cooled down right quick after the Fortress. Well, for most people adrenaline is one heck of a boner killer. Of course he'd never made a move on her no matter how hands on she'd been about it. Which in glorious 20/20 hindsight is a good thing.

Brad and Sally are complaining about an upcoming class they have together. It's hard to tell what the complaint is, since they both seem pretty happy about it. And for someone pretending to be annoyed, Sally sure is leaning at Brad a lot. Cantrell thinks Sally might be the only person at this table with worse flirting skills than Cantrell herself. But knowing Brad this will probably work for Sally. Cantrell sure hadn't gotten the reaction she'd wanted out of Bruce.

Well, Bruce's reaction had shown her that mom and dad had known what they were talking about. If she wants anything like a normal life then Cantrell Kent needs to play her cards close to her chest.

"Eat some nachos," Brad tells her, and Cantrell realizes she's had maybe three so far. When was the last time she sat down and ate a meal with someone? Breakfast a couple of weeks ago, that horrible unseasoned egg and tater tots thing the cafeteria calls 'southwestern breakfast bake'. Her and Jimmy and Sally, for about twenty minutes before exams.

Sally asks Cantrell if billionaires eat nachos. Cantrell replies that she's never actually seen Bruce eat nachos but he probably does. Jimmy points out that tastewise at least Bruce has the sense to not eat bugs. Chapulines are good Brad says, and Lori wants to know how crickets are any different from lobster, and the table descends into an argument about what is and isn't food.

Being known as a superpowered alien would probably make it impossible to sit down like this with other people. They'd be as edgy as Bruce had been when she'd brought out the snacks. And thank God he'd been on edge, or Cantrell would be lying to Jimmy.

She'd asked herself _what could it hurt?_ and then she'd walked herself right down to the cliff's edge of hurting Jimmy. She needs to avoid those moral wildernesses, to restrain herself when there's no one around to guide her path. Too many people depend on her, even if they don't know it.

* * *

  
About a dozen people know what Cantrell can do. Four elders from the Kawatche nation (Three, Cantrell reminds herself, because Kyla's grandfather Myron died four months ago), Eddy and Val, Pete and Lana, and now Bruce. And his family, because either Bruce doesn't keep secrets from them or they'd pried it out of his files somehow. Hopefully it was the first scenario.

Lana figured it out herself, after living next door and practically in Cantrell's pocket for a few days. Pete, well, Cantrell had grabbed Pete when he jumped out of the back of Fordman's truck. They'd both known her as a person before they knew about her abilities.

Bruce had come at it from the exact opposite angle, learning of her abilities first and then attaching them to an identity. His interest in Cantrell had been practical, trying to find a way to use her in his personal crusade. And he still doesn't seem to view her as fully human.

If someone who knows how she grew up, who probably has all her school and medical records, can't grasp her humanity, then how can anyone else? She'll just be a collection of powers to them.

Cantrell needs her privacy. She can't be seen running around performing impossible feats. It would ruin her life.

* * *

  
"I'm sorry, what?"

Jimmy smiles at her. "I said, what time is your first class tomorrow?"

"Oh. Eight thirty, Programs and Policy. You?"

Sitting down and socializing like this is good for her. It's one thing to talk with people between classes or at the gym, another thing altogether to sit down and interact with friends. Slowing down to interact with a group makes her pay attention to how other people ebb and flow around one another. She hasn't really been giving herself time for that lately.

"You're really out of it today," Jimmy says.

"I really am. Sorry my head isn't here. I've just got too much to think about right now."

"Yeah, you do. Take your time, we'll be here when you come back to Earth."

Brad grew up in Smallville in a little duplex his family could barely afford to keep. Sally grew up on a ranch about four times larger than the old Kent operation. Somehow they're finding common things in their lives to talk about.

Is it fair for Cantrell to say that Jimmy's too rich? Forty-ish cattle on three hundred acres is a small seedstock operation but it's still a lot of assets compared to most people. And then her parents had bought a house and a business in Smallville. Even by small town standards they weren't exactly rich and there had been a few times when cash had been tight but they'd always been stable and they'd always owned property. Her scholarship and grant pay for tuition and books and the university's basic per diem meal plan, but there are other cost involved and the money she has from selling her family assets means she will graduate without debt (Maybe a little debt. The budget for that last year is going to be tight). That's not something most of the other people she knows can say. Basically Jimmy. Everyone else has loans.

Speaking of... "How's your mom, Brad?"

"Good. Says the store is doing good. I wish she could slow down though. She's still working too hard all the time."

"She relaxed a lot when you got that scholarship. I think that really took a lot of worries off her mind."

Although really, there's a world of difference between the stable middle-class Kent household and the Olsens of Metropolis with nearly two billion dollars worth of real estate and industrial assets.

"Brad says you're the nosiest big sister in the world," Sally tells her.

"Yeah, he's been saying that for years. I'm not nosy, Brad. There's lots I don't go prying into."

Brad shrugs. "But somehow you still know all about it. Big sis sees all." Brad is a year older than her. He's been calling Cantrell big sis since grade ten, around the same time he started calling her parents sir and ma'am.

The food helps. Digesting a meal puts her back on biological time. It reminds her overcharged body to function in the ways nature intended it to. She needs to do more than just snack where people can see her. That's a habit from elementary school, carried over into high school and now university. Eat light snacks around people so they don't notice that she doesn't eat a lot of large meals. But she'd always had at least one sitdown meal a day with her parents. Then there had been lunch at school with her friends. And Lana's mom had invited her over for dinner more than a few times.

It's been a long time since she actually sat down to a meal with people. Somehow she'd never noticed how important this is to her.

"I really need to do this more often," she says. "Just sit down with you guys and eat and talk. Slow down."

"Uh huh," Brad nods. "I've been telling you that for months. Even you've gotta breathe sometimes."

"Yeah well. I guess you're right. I think doing stuff like this helps keep me on track." She'd definitely gone off track there for a while. Going after Bruce had been a bad decision and she'd known that the whole time. Basically a form of corruption, no more and no less. Other people do this, so why not me?

And of course she knows why she can't do what others do. Because she can do what no one else can. Her power means she doesn't have the freedom to make the same mistakes as anyone else.

* * *

  
"You should have seen this guy back in high school," Cantrell grins at Sally. Brad groans and begs her to shut up. "Never," Cantrell tells Brad. "I will share your meathead days with all the world."

Brad turns to Sally with a slightly desperate look on his face. "I got better."

"It's true," Cantrell admits. "He really did. One thing he's always been good at is getting better. There's a reason he's at MetU while guys like Fordman are still back in Smallville."

Brad groans. "Oh fuck, Mr Coulda Shoulda Woulda himself. He was a good quarterback, but he never figured out that being small-town good doesn't get you out of the small town."

Her power also means she can't run around in the shadows forever. It's time to just get it over with. Start doing her work in public, and as for Bruce and Lex...

"Jimmy, can you contact someone at the Planet for me? I guess that's Cat Grant, right? Or give me her contact info? I guess I need to talk to someone about me and Bruce being friends." And that genuinely feels like a weight off her shoulders.

Jimmy rubs the back of her hand, leaving bright heat trails across her skin. "You sound so happy about that. Are you sure?"

"Actually, yes." Yeah, this feels like the right decision. It's not easy, but there's a sense of relief to it. "You think it'll help, Bruce thinks it'll help. Maybe I should listen to the people who are used to dealing with the media. Trying to avoid interviews hasn't made anything go away."

Jimmy squeezes her hand. She gives him a gentle squeeze back. "I can put you in touch with Cat Grant, the Planet's society writer. The cost is going to be having to talk to Lois Lane about Lex. I know you don't want to do that. But Grant and Lane are both really good about keeping other reporters from harassing their people. Once they mark you as a Planet source your life should be a lot easier."

Sally cuts in. "You make it sound like they're going to pee on Cantrell to mark their turf."

Cantrell scrunches her face. "Sally, ew."

Jimmy matches Cantrell's scrunch. "Yeah. That is a mental image the entire world could have gone without."

"Well maybe if you hadn't been going on about marking their sources... "

As much fun as it might have been, it's a good thing she hadn't slept with Bruce. It's not just the lifestyle, it's not just the way her abilities keep triggering Bruce's hypervigilance, it's fundamental differences in the way they view the world.

Cantrell's rules of the game were shaped by the Legion, which she can't think too much about because spoilers but she can think about their impact on her life. Pranks and dumb stunts had been a major way to blow off steam with those folks. First time she'd met them they faked an orbital strike on a populated region to distract her in the middle of a competition. But Bruce doesn't play games like that.

 _Games_ is a good way to describe her own interest in him. A selfish little game to distract herself from her problems and the work she needs to do. Time to move on.

Mom and dad had always tried to guide her while leaving enough room for her to make her own decisions. What they'd always asked was for her to be aware of the choices she was making. And for the past few weeks she's been charging headlong down a path without ever slowing down to wonder where she's going. If mom was right and they're watching her right now, they must be really worried.

How does that song go? _Wake me up when I'm wiser and I'm older_? Yeah.

She'd blocked a bullet by not sleeping with Bruce. But not before very deliberately putting Jimmy in front of that bullet. Cantrell's not sure how she would have handled the shame of actually hurting Jimmy.

Lori asks what she's planning to do next. "You know, in general. With the increased attention and all."

"Well, Jimmy's right. As far as the media is concerned I'm part of the supporting cast. If I play my part and give them the interviews they want, they'll get bored with what I have to say. I don't know where Lex is, and Bruce and I are friends. It's just not that interesting."

In the end, this is the right path to take. Down that other road with Bruce lies public scrutiny, potential exposure, and worst of all, kids who think nothing of wasting enough money on a single dessert to buy a decade's worth of basic groceries. Plus no matter how you want to describe it, his habit of ninja'ing up on people is just annoying. She had been completely justified in throwing him out her window.

And really, what kind of relationship can you have with someone whose stress-levels drop when you show them a chunk of rock they could use to kill you?

"Yeah," Jimmy says. "The way the news works you're not wrong. Right now there's not much interesting going on, but there'll be a political scandal or a disaster or something next week, and you'll be old news."

And on that front, being Kala Jor-El in public will be a great distraction from Cantrell Kent's private life. Kala Jor-El, the 'superwoman', can live in the open. A collection of powers wrapped in tights and a cape. No one will ever dream something like that could have a private self. Her real self can live behind the scenes, hanging out with her friends and helping kids through Metropolis Child and Family Services.

Which still leaves the problem of what to tell Jimmy. Cantrell needs to figure out the right distance with him. But judging those boundaries in a relationship is difficult. And in all honesty, possibly just maybe Lana hadn't been the best person to learn boundaries with. You could spot that girl everything except the O and I and she still wouldn't be able to spell the word. In the first couple of years, at least. Lana had gotten a lot better as they'd gotten older.

"Cat Grant is actually a better interviewer than Ms Lane," Jimmy tells her. "Ms Lane's approach is to line up as many facts as possible, use them to beat the subject into submission, and then go through the subject's pockets looking for interesting news stories."

"Great. Sounds fun."

It's no one's business that the superwoman is actually Cantrell Kent. But it's very much the business of the people close to Cantrell that she is also the superwoman.

She doesn't want to tell Jimmy. She needs someone close who looks at her and just sees Cantrell Kent. That used to be the people who had watched her grow up. Mom and dad, obviously, and dad's lead hand Eddy Garcia. But it also used to be Lana and Pete. That has never been Bruce and it never will be.

Jimmy doesn't know all of her. She needs someone who looks at all of her and just sees Cantrell. That's not Jimmy unless she tells him.

But if she tells him then he'll see Cantrell differently.

Urgh. She's been going back and forth on this for days.

Her phone buzzes. Cantrell checks her messages and groans a bit. God, she's made robots that were less persistent than that woman.

"What's wrong?"

"Honestly nothing. Just another text from Lois. I suppose I'd better get this over with and agree to that interview."  


"I know I complain a lot, but she's honestly good to work with. I've learned a lot from her. Give her a chance, you might even like her."

**Author's Note:**

> Two of the people in this piece are non-human. Two people are spies. One is a distant descendant of one of the other people at the table. What I'm saying is, the DCU has some really interesting lunch groups.


End file.
